12 VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



The unmixed Greeks are above the middle stature, of fine proportions and 

 graceful mien. The forehead is high, expanded, and but little arched, so that it 

 forms with the straight and pointed nose, a nearly rectilinear outline. This 

 conformation sometimes imparts an appearance of disproportion to the upper part 

 of the face, which, however, is in a great measure counteracted by the largeness 

 of the eye. The Greek face is a fine oval, and small in comparison to the 

 voluminous head. The statues of the Olympian Jupiter, and the Apollo Belvidere, 

 convey an exact idea of the perfect Grecian countenance.* 



" The women of Cyprus are handsomer than those of any other Grecian 

 island. They have a taller and more stately figure ; and the features, particularly 

 those of the women of Nicosia, are regular and dignified, exhibiting that elevated 

 cast of countenance so universally admired in the works of Grecian artists. At 

 present this kind of beauty seems peculiar to the women of Cyprus: the sort of 

 expression exhibited by one set of features, may be traced with different gradations 

 in them all. Hence were possibly derived those celebrated models of female 

 beauty, conspicuous in the statues, vases, medals and gems of Greece."t 



Perhaps of all the population of modern Greece, that of Roumelia in moral 

 traits most resembles the ancient. They are hardy, warlike, and brave, and have 

 never been completely subjected by the Turks. The inhabitants of the Morea — 

 called Moreotes, on the contrary, have been long the acknowledged vassals of the 

 Porte. The coasts and maritime towns are inhabited by a motley people of 

 various races, who are called by the general name of Greeks, but who have little 

 claim to Grecian lineage or character. 



The degeneration of the modern Greeks, however, is rather moral than 

 physical ; for their athletic limbs, their broad shoulders and their strong lineaments, 

 are not inferior to those of their ancestors.J 



The Trojans, like the Etruscans, were cognate with the Greeks ; and iEneas, 

 flying from the flames of Troy, founded in Italy the kingdom of Alba. The 

 striking difference, however, between the Roman and Greek physiognomy, is 

 familiar to all observers, but is readily accounted for by the free intercourse of 

 the primitive Romans with the surrounding nations, of which the Rape of the 



* BoRY DE St. Vincent, L'Homme, I, p. 40. t Clarke, Trav. II, p. 338. 



t " It appears from numerous instances, especially from the case of the Greeks, that moral causes 

 infinitely more than physical circumstances, influence national character, since arts, sciences and letters 

 now flourish on the cold and foggy shores of the Baltic sea and the German ocean, while, during a 

 period of several centuries, not a single poet or philosopher has arisen in the country of Homer and 

 Plato.''— BiGLAND, Effects of Phys, and Moral Causes on the Charac. of Nations, p. 144. 



